The Spirit Fisher

Tom Lee

Kent Cho rushed to his homeroom on the morning of his first day of fifth grade at Bishop Elementary, thrilled to be a big kid who could rule over the lower grades. Before entering, he put his right hand over the cross on his uniform vest and silently prayed he would be sitting next to his best friends, Vinay and Chris. Together, the self-proclaimed Lords, the three smartest kids in the class, could have an epic year. Sadly, his prayer went unanswered, as he saw his paper nameplate on a desk in the front, while “Vinay Rao” and “Chris McKenzie” were far away in the back. He was next to an unfamiliar name, “Lisa Yum.” 

     An Asian girl he did not recognize with long hair that flowed down to the middle of her back walked in. She was nearly as tall as their lanky middle-aged teacher, Ms. Simon, a full head taller than Kent, and her plaid uniform skirt seemed too short on her. She was closer to a grown woman than the stick-figure class princesses who called themselves Tiara Gurls. She sat next to Kent, and looked at him with a strange smile, like she somehow knew him. His eyes were magnetically drawn to her angelic face.

     “Kent Cho. Same number of letters as my name,” she said, pointing to his nameplate. She spoke in an accent he had only heard on English television shows about wizards and dragons. 

     Ms. Simon called the class to order in her booming voice, and said, “We have a new student. Lisa, can you come up front?”

     Kent would’ve been nervous in front of a bunch of kids he’d never met, but Lisa didn’t seem shy at all.  As she twirled her black hair playfully, she told the class she had moved from Hong Kong to San Jose, California during the summer, and loved to solve riddles and puzzles. When Lisa sat back down, she turned to Kent excitedly, “Our names also have all the vowels, and Y. And several of the most commonly used consonants!”

     She took Kent’s nameplate from his desk and put it on top of hers: 

     Kent Cho

     Lisa Yum

     Kent didn’t see what was special about this, but she seemed so happy, like she had just brought home a new pet, so he nodded politely. 

     For their morning assignment, Ms. Simon had the class write a short paragraph about what they did over the summer. He wrote about his dog, Arfie who died in July when he was hit by a mail truck in front of their house. He teared up as he thought about his beloved blonde Labrador puppy and asked to go to the bathroom so he wouldn’t embarrass himself in front of the other Lords. 

     At recess, the Lords sat inside the tire pyramid, the most private and therefore most desired place to be. After an intra-class war broke out last spring, Kent wrote a peace treaty that assigned each class clique a different playground area for each the day of the week. On Mondays, the tire pyramid belonged to the Lords, then rotated to the Tiara Gurls, Hardcore Gamers, and Ballers before sitting empty every fifth day.  

     Kent threw pebbles against one of the tires and said to Vinay and Chris, “The new girl is kinda strange.”

     “She’s also hot,” Vinay said, his huge eyes bugging out. Chris laughed and nodded, his curly red hair shaking. 

     Kent smirked. “Yeah, but will she fit in here?” She was tall enough to be a Baller, but she needed to prove herself in P.E., and Hardcore Gamers never talked to girls.

     Vinay chuckled. “She’ll probably be a Tiara Gurl.” 

     “She wasn’t wearing any jewelry though. Don’t they have a rule about wearing two pieces of jewelry?” Chris said. 

     Kent considered inviting her into the Lords because she liked riddles and puzzles, smart kid stuff that they liked too. But he did not, because he knew Vinay and Chris would tease him mercilessly. 

     Kent heard a bump and looked up to see Lisa peeking in from the top tire. 

     “Lords only!” Chris yelled, his face turning bright red to match his hair. 

     She disappeared. 

     Back in class, there was a note on his desk written in purple ink on stationery lined with pictures of boba teacups.

     Two lines were written on the note:

     “Euitrdcmhatklesgtbmhami

     Cmhntedewtnuma”

     He looked over at Lisa, who gave him that weird smile again. The note must be some kind of puzzle. During math class, he put the note on his lap and experimented with several different possible solutions. Since she had told him she was intrigued by the letters in their names, he figured out she had swapped all the letters in his name with the corresponding letters in hers, and vice versa. Letters not in their names, like “b,” she left alone.  

     The translation read:

     Iheardyoutalkingaboutme

     Yousaidiwashot

     Did he? Kent blushed. If he remembered correctly, he had only agreed when Vinay said so, and Vinay thought every girl was hot, especially the Asian ones. As Kent fidgeted in his seat, he decided to play nice with the new girl, hoping she wouldn’t spread gossip.

     The next morning, before homeroom started, he wrote Lisa a note and plopped it on her desk when no one was looking. 

     “Wuctricmhhnesgymdi” which translated into Whyareyouusingcode.

     Quickly decoding the note with a pink pencil, she smiled broadly and said with a giggle, “You get my code. I’m your cipher.”

     Before homeroom ended, she handed him another note while Ms. Simon’s back was turned.

     Eytsatklamnperean (Icantalktospirits)

     Mhrnpereanytsatklsmw (Ourspiritscantalknow)

     He was confused. He whispered, “What do you mean?”

     Although they were supposed to be quietly reading, Lisa closed her eyes and started counting out loud. Then, she babbled loudly and incoherently for a few seconds. The whole class stared at her like she was possessed. Ms. Simon adjusted her glasses and asked, “Lisa, are you ok?”

     “Yes, splendid,” Lisa said as she opened her eyes.

     Ms. Simon shook a finger at her. “Please refrain from talking during reading time,” 

     Kent wondered if Lisa was playing some kind of prank. A few hours later, after social studies, she handed him another note:

     Euytsnumwcmhumw (icanshowyouhow)

     He doubted she could really talk to spirits, but part of him really wanted to believe. Kent cried every day for weeks after Arfie died, because he had left the side gate open on the day of the accident, allowing the reckless puppy to run into the street. He wanted a chance to say he was sorry, even if only to Arfie’s ghost.

     At recess, the Lords hung out by the handball court as the treaty required, while Lisa roamed around the blacktop alone, talking to someone invisible. All the other kids stared and cracked jokes, making Kent wary of getting any closer to her.

     Vinay laughed, “My brother says the hottest girls are always crazy.” 

At dinner that night, Kent nearly spat his rice out when his mom told him they were going over to Lisa’s house that weekend. He’d forgotten his parents were on the school’s Welcome Committee. 

     “We need to make sure Lisa, and her family feel included in our community,” his dad said proudly. Kent rolled his eyes as his dad repeated for the 100th time how lonely he had been as a child in 1980s rural Vermont, where everyone thought Asians ate dog and knew karate.

     Lisa’s boxy modern house had gigantic wall-sized windows and was much bigger than his family’s three-bedroom. Lisa’s parents were both tall and thin like Lisa, much taller and thinner than Kent’s parents and had on the kind of shiny designer clothes Kent’s parents only wore to weddings. Kent’s mom, dressed in the same casual clothes she had been running errands in all day, looked at the tight black dress on Lisa’s mom, and said, “Oh dear. We’re so underdressed.” 

     Lisa’s mom responded, “Don’t worry. We’re very informal.”

     Under a crystal chandelier, Kent and Lisa did not say a word as they ate sauce-covered food from heavy plates set on an embroidered tablecloth. The parents politely talked about their jobs in between bouts of silence. As Lisa’s father explained he was an international banker who had moved the family five times in the last ten years, a frown took over Lisa’s face. After a dessert of fruit tarts, Lisa’s mom said, “Why don’t you kids head to the doll room now?”

      Kent and Lisa walked away as her mom added, “Keep the door open, Lisa.”

     The doll room was twice the size of Kent’s bedroom. Dozens of foot-tall Asian plastic dolls in black dresses with shiny black eyes were lined up in bookcases against the walls. Kent crossed his arms uncomfortably, sensing they were watching and judging his every move.

     Lisa led him to a brown tea table in the middle of the room, and they sat on the hardwood floor. “This is where I go to spirit fish, but my parents don’t know that.”

     Kent was very glad the door was open so he could call out for help if things got too weird. “What do you mean?” he asked.

     “Spirits are floating around in their world like fish in the sea. If you cast out your soul, they connect with you.”

     “Can you find any spirit?” 

     “If you learn how to fish, yes.” She smiled slyly. “We have a code together in the physical world, so I can guide you through the spirit world. I can introduce you to spirits and they can speak to you through me. Your connection to the spirit world will grow with practice, and you will be able to talk to them yourself soon!”

     If Lisa could really introduce him to spirits, he could apologize to Arfie. His parents told him dog souls went to heaven, but they also told him many silly fairy tales that turned out to be untrue, so he wasn’t sure. He had to try spirit fishing once, to find out for himself.

     Lisa said, “You start by closing your eyes, clearing your mind, and counting to twenty.” 

     After they did that together, Lisa added, “Now keep your eyes closed and say, ‘Speak to me if you’re lonely.’ Repeat it with me.” Rubbing his sweaty palms together, Kent peeked at Lisa through half-closed eyes and repeated her words. 

     After a minute of silence, she said excitedly, “Oh, my brother is here.” 

     Kent sensed nothing but dolls’ stares, though Lisa smiled broadly. 

     “His name is Elijah,” Lisa said.

      “Uh, hi Eli.”

     Lisa laughed. “He thinks you’re funny.” She muttered and giggled incomprehensibly for a few minutes.

     “Is there anything you want to ask him?” she said.

     “My dog died this summer. Can he find him?”

     Lisa went quiet for a long while. Kent was about to ask her if she was okay, but then, a strange voice came from her. It was low and rough, though it had the same English accent.

     “Sixteen-oh-three,” the voice said. Kent gasped and opened his eyes. What could that mean? A year? A room number? He sensed another presence in the room but looked around and saw only Lisa. 

     Then, Lisa’s father yelled, “Lisa, it’s time for Kent to go home.”

     Lisa opened her eyes and bit her lip angrily, “No, we need more time.”

     “Now, Lisa.” 

     As Kent rose, Lisa pleaded, “You can’t tell anyone what I told you, okay? If you do, the spirits will get mad.”

     Kent nodded as he headed towards the door. “What does 1603 mean?” 

     “I don’t know. Why do you ask?”

     “You…or somebody, something said it.”

     Lisa furrowed her brow. “I don’t remember saying it. Did the voice sound like a man?”

     “Yes.” 

     “Spirits can speak through me to someone I have a code with. That must have been my brother. He was in the army. 1603 means 4:03 pm in military time. He must be telling us what time we should fish for him.”

     “Both of us?” 

     “Yes. You need to come over again,” 

     “Kent!” his dad yelled.

     As soon as they got in their car, his father said, “I can’t believe he asked me how much equity we had in our house.”

     His mother put her hand on his father’s shoulder and nodded towards Kent. 

     Kent asked, “Did Lisa’s parents have any other kids?”

     “Her parents didn’t mention any. Why do you ask?” his dad said.

     Kent shrugged. “I just thought there might be someone older who doesn’t live with them. Like in college or something.”

     That night Kent tossed and turned in bed and wondered if Lisa could be speaking the truth. Was it possible? Could he hear Arfie’s cheery bark again? He couldn’t stop thinking about Lisa and her bizarre, mystical ways.

Kent knew how to convince his parents to plan a playdate with Lisa. 

     “I think Lisa needs to talk to someone. She told me last night she’s not making any new friends,” he told his parents over dinner, knowing they would immediately turn into the Troubled Child Rescue Squad. 

     Kent’s parents nodded in unison. His father said, “You can be the friend she needs now.”

     His mother, as usual, agreed with his father, “You should help her. There’s no reason you can’t be friends with a girl.”

     With a few texts, Kent’s mother arranged for a playdate at Lisa’s house a few days later. At school pickup time, Kent’s face reddened when the other kids snickered as he walked with Lisa to her mom’s silver SUV. One of the Ballers shouted, “Lovebirds!” 

     Hopefully, he only had to endure this kind of teasing for a day or two, until he had a chance to investigate spirit fishing further.

At her house, Lisa led Kent to the doll room and pulled out a chessboard from one of the bookcase shelves.  

     Lisa’s mom reminded them, “Keep the door open.”

     “We’re just going to play chess, Mom,” Lisa said, annoyed. 

     They sat on the floor and set up the board. When her mother finally walked away, Lisa said to Kent, “Let’s just play until it’s time.” 

     He knew basic rules of chess but not any strategy, so he lost most of his pieces until it was almost 4:00 pm.

     Lisa pushed the chessboard to the side and smiled at Kent, “Let’s start. Remember, close your eyes, clear your mind, and count to twenty.”

     After that, they said together, “Speak to me if you’re lonely.”

     For a while, the room was completely quiet. Kent felt a chill as the Asian dolls’ eyes bore down on him.

     Lisa said, “My brother is here again.”

     Kent’s skin tingled as if someone was staring at him. He asked, “Why are you in the spirit world?”

     Nothing.

     Lisa said, “Your connection isn’t strong enough. Come closer. Your connection gets stronger if you’re close to another spirit fisher.”

     She leaned towards him until their faces were almost touching. She was closer than any girl had ever been to him. Kent got goosebumps on his arms as her breath warmed his face.

     He asked again, “Why are you in the spirit world?”

     A voice came from Lisa, the same low gravelly voice that had said 1603 the other night. “I crossed over before Lisa was born. I didn’t want to live.” 

     “I’m so sorry,” Kent said, feeling a dizzy mix of fright, sadness, and excitement. Despite the storm of emotions, he remembered why he wanted to fish for spirits. He asked softly, “Are there dogs where you are?”

     The strange voice said, “Of course.”

     “Do you know a yellow Labrador? He was just 10 months old. His name is Arfie.”

     “I see a dog like that close by.”

     “Can we fish for Arfie?” 

     Lisa’s voice jumped, “Yes! I can help you. I don’t know Arfie though, so he may not speak through me. I need to strengthen your connection to the spirit world so you can speak directly. We need to be touching.” Lisa grabbed both of Kent’s hands. Kent was self-conscious of the sweat forming on his palms. She leaned in closer until their foreheads were touching, and whispered, “Think of him and only him.” 

     Kent thought of Arfie’s furry face and floppy ears. After a while, he had a vision of Arfie running through their backyard, his tongue and tail wagging, but wasn’t sure if it was a memory or Arfie’s actual spirit. 

     “Arfie?” he said.

     “I can see him too. He’s so happy. Say something. He’ll hear you now.”

     Sharp footsteps approached, and Kent and Lisa abruptly opened their eyes. Lisa quickly put the chessboard between them again.

     Lisa’s mother walked in carrying a tray of sliced honeydew melons. She lingered at the doorway, glaring at the chess pieces, some lying flat on the board. 

     Kent was dizzy as he tried to process what was real or a hallucination. 

     “Next move?” he asked.

     Lisa eyed the empty doorway, “School tomorrow.” 

When Kent came into homeroom the next day, Chris said with a mean smile that fully showed his braces, “Do you live with your girlfriend now?”

     “We were just hanging out,” Kent said sheepishly.

     Lisa came in a few minutes later and passed him a note. Vinay and Chris saw this and laughed as they looked at each other. 

     The note said, Arctgtestariyinn

     Before Kent had a chance to decode it, Vinay grabbed it and said, “OMG. Lovebirds have their own language.”

     Kent grabbed the note back and put it in his pocket. During the next class, he decoded it:

     Tryagainatrecess.

     Kent hesitated. Spending recess with Lisa seemed risky, since Vinay and Chris were already making fun of him for having a “girlfriend”, but he had to finish spirit fishing for Arfie.

     The only place where they could have some real privacy during recess was in the tire pyramid, which would be empty that day in accordance with the treaty. They both sat down inside, and Lisa said, “Let’s make sure our connection is extra strong,” 

     She leaned in inches from his face and held his hands. 

      “Ok, here we go. Count to twenty.”

     “Speak to me, Arfie,” he said with heavy breaths.

     “Really concentrate on him,” she said and pressed her forehead against his. 

     Her soft breath tickled his nose. Kent lost focus as beads of sweat formed on his forehead. Suddenly, she pulled him closer, and her lips pushed into his. Startled, he opened his eyes and jumped back. She smiled at him in that weird way, like she did on the first day of school. When she moved towards him again, he didn’t move away. He closed his eyes and pursed his lips as Lisa’s face pressed against him a second time. 

     Someone cleared his throat. Was it her brother? 

     No.

     Mr. Shaw, the burly recess warden, stared at them from the top of the pyramid. “Can you two come back to class early? I think we should talk.”

     As they followed Mr. Shaw in shame, Vinay yelled, his huge eyes bulging, “Oooooo, you two were making out!” 

     In the classroom, Mr. Shaw whispered something to Ms. Simon. She sat the two of them in front of her imposing desk and said sternly, “You two know the rules about touching.”

     Lisa snapped back, “We weren’t touching each other like that.” 

     “Then what were you doing?” Ms. Simon demanded.

    Lisa and Kent looked at the floor and stayed quiet.

     “If you both have nothing to say, I’ll have to email your parents to let them know what Mr. Shaw thinks he saw,” Ms. Simon scolded.

They were having his favorite, spaghetti with meat sauce, for dinner. They always ate something he liked before an uncomfortable double-barreled lecture.

“What happened at school today?” his mother said.  

He sighed. “We weren’t doing anything, Mom.” 

“Kent, we’re not mad about the kiss. It’s natural to be curious at your age, but we know there’s more to this.” 

His father joined in. “No one is blaming you. We talked to Lisa’s parents. Has she been telling you she can talk to spirits?” 

Kent didn’t answer, not wanting to tattle.

His mother continued, “Did she tell you she has a brother? Sometimes, she tells people she has a brother who committed suicide before she was born, but according to her parents, he never existed.”

His father added, “Lisa has…” he hesitated, looking to Kent’s mother for support.

“Problems,” his mother said. “Lisa has had some problems. Her parents thought she was getting better but moving again triggered her. She has no other friends. You are very important to her. If you want to help her, please tell us everything.”

Kent felt a lump in his throat. Was it true? Was everything Lisa told him a lie? 

Kent muttered, looking down at his spaghetti as he fought back tears, “She told me she has a brother. We tried to talk to him in the spirit world.”

Kent’s father put a hand on his shoulder, “You did the right thing. She’ll get the help she needs now. She will switch to a school better suited for her, but you could still be friends.” 

Kent started to cry.

At school the next day, Lisa didn’t say a word to Kent. She was pale and her eyes were red, as if she had been crying. She sat silently in all their classes together, refusing to make eye contact and occasionally breaking out in tears. At recess, there was no sign of her. Kent milled around alone in the playground, then eventually went up to Vinay and Chris in the handball court. “Hey, can I play too?” he asked. They both nodded.

Lisa handed him a white envelope at the end of the school day:

Fenufmroi1603 (Fishforme1603) 

He doubted spirit fishing was real more than ever now. Even if Lisa had told him the truth, he didn’t think he was strong enough to connect without her close. Desperate to not lose her too, he decided to try. At exactly 4:03 pm he sat on his bed and put his blanket over his head to block out all distractions. He closed his eyes and counted to twenty. 

Since Lisa was usually his guide, he was unsure what to do except think and wait. He thought of her angelic face and long hair, which he looked forward to seeing every morning.  After a long silence, instead of Lisa’s voice, he heard a bark. Startled, he clenched his fists. 

“Is that you, Arfie?” 

He saw the puppy sprinting towards him, panting as his ears bounced. Arfie jumped into his arms and licked his face. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Kent cried, then giggled as dense fur tickled his neck. Was his dog really there or was it a very vivid dream? No matter what, he felt love in that moment, before Arfie faded away. 

Kent took a deep breath. He was relieved after apologizing but suddenly felt lonely in his quiet room. He kept his eyes closed and thought of Lisa again, her warm breath on his cheeks and the tingling she brought to his lips. After a few minutes, his heart quickened as her sad face flashed before him.

“Goodbye,” Lisa whispered. Before he could speak, she was gone.

© Variant Literature Inc 2023